Search This Blog

The purpose of the Florida Native Plant Society (FNPS) is to promote the preservation, conservation, and restoration of the native plants and native plant communities of Florida. This blog presents ideas and information to further the cause of Florida's native plants and ecosystems.

DON'T CUT DOWN THAT SNAG

The Wildlife Tree

SNAGS, often referred to as “The Wildlife Tree”, are dead tree trunks that are still standing.

They provide perches, food and nesting sites for birds and other wildlife. Wildlife also uses dead wood as landmarks for navigation, basking platforms, perching and nesting.

Cavity Dwellers

Nearly 40 species of birds and several species mammals in Florida nest in tree cavities.Woodpeckers, are a “primary excavators.”

Owls, Blue-birds, Squirrels and Nuthatches are a few of the “secondary cavity users.”

Photo by Donna Bollenbach

Snags as Perches

Many birds perch high on snags so they can spot prey below.

Some birds perch on snags for the greater visibility to a potential mate.

Snags as Cover

Birds and small mammals take shelter in the cavities of trees

Bees may also create hives in tree cavities.

Snags for Nesting

Ospreys and eagles will build their nests in the tops of snags, especially if they are located close to a body of water that will provide them fish for their young.

Woodpeckers, wrens, wood ducks, tree swallows, owls gnat catchers, and fly catchers are just a few of the birds that nest in tree cavities.

SNAGS as food source

Wildlife eat the insects that live and reproduce in the decaying wood of the snag.

Raccoons, bears and other wildlife will also search snags for high protein grubs and other insects

This old tree will eventually be a great snag

What makes a good SNAG?

Wildlife will use snags of both deciduous trees and evergreens. The height, diameter and type of wood (soft or hard) may determine when and how it is used. Hardwood trees, such as oaks, maples and elms, may develop cavities while they are still alive. Softwoods, such as pines and cypress trees, are more likely to have cavities after it dies.

Palm trees that lose their top (bud) during a storm, will eventually die. In natural areas that have been impacted by storms, you may see clusters of cabbage palm snags. Woodpeckers will search for insects and a dig cavities in live and dead palm trees.

If you have a dying or nuisance tree in your yard, you may have a potential wildlife snag.

Trees you may want to make into a snag:

Weak wood, or disease,

A shade tree in an area where you want sun,

A tree with invasive roots threatening a drainage or septic system,

A tree in a group that needs thinning out

A tree in an area where there aren’t any snags

Photo by Donna Bollenbach

Snags, Logs and Woodpiles in Your Landscape

Like vegetation, you should provide different heights of dead wood in your landscape. If you have a lot of property, you might consider having a variety of dead wood features. You can work deadwood into your landscape design for both function and beauty.

You may even “plant” small snags for songbird perches or in water features.

Snags also provide support for native vines, orchids, and bromeliads.

Photo by Donna Bollenbach

If leaving a snag standing is not safe, consider leaving the stump, or the cut logs in a far corner of your yard to rot and serve wildlife.

Logs are essentially fallen snags, and they serve much benefits, for wildlife that prefer to stay closer to the ground.

Also, instead of throwing out branches or other deadwood in your landscape, consider making a pile of it for wildlife.

Comments

So true and we need people to start implementing this. I live in a subdivision with a Homeowners Assoc. so sometimes you have to abide by their restrictive covenants. However, I have a turkey oak that is mostly dead and when it comes time to cut some top portions off for "neighbor safety" I plan on having about 20-30 feet of stump left to provide for the wildlife. I do not believe the HOA will say anything with a "fairly" small stump but should they, I will just put vines up or brackets to use to hang flowers, etc. One way or another, I will use that stump to provide for wildlife.

Introduction: Purple berries clinging around stems with bright green foliage make Callicarpa americana stand out from late summer to winter. It is easy to see how beautyberry got its common name. Don’t let its looks fool you though; Callicarpa is more than just eye candy. Callicarpa americana is useful medicinally and as food for wildlife and people. American Beautyberry is not fussy about location, soil or light requirements. This tough plant is an American Beauty in every sense of the word. Its name comes from Greek: Kalli, means beautiful; Karpos means fruit.

Historic Medicinal Uses:
Native Americans had many uses for beautberry, both internally and externally. According to Taylor (1940), Native Americans used beautyberry externally as a steam and topical application. All parts of the pla…

﻿ ﻿Australian pines seem to be everywhere in the coastal regions in the bottom half of Florida. Their name is deceiving because, while they are native to Australia, they aren't pines or even conifers. They are flowering trees with separate male and female flowers, and what look like needles are really green twiglets with close-set circles of tiny leaves that drop at the first sign of a drought. In the photo to the right, the light-colored lines are where leaves where once attached. Most of the photosynthesis takes place in the twiglets.

There are three species of Australian pine (Casuarina spp) that have been imported into Florida for various purposes. They were widely planted to soak up the "swamps" in Florida, stabilize canals, and hold beaches. Unfortunately for Florida's ecosystems, the "pines" accomplished all this and more--like seeding prolifically, growing five feet or more per year, producing dense shade, and emitting an herbicide that kills most a…

These perky natives have numerous and endearing charms. Authors and growers disagree about the proper Latin name, but they are in complete agreement that more people should use more coonties in their landscapes.

What's to like?
Coonties are spritely and graceful in their form, tough as the dickens, bright green all year, and host plant for the beautiful blue atala
hairstreak butterfly. In fact, coonties are the only larval food for atalas. You can use them as specimen or accent plants, mass them together for ground cover, or use them in a line as a border. And to top that off, they have an interesting sex life. A subject we hardly ever get to talk about around here. More on that later. See more in Roger Hammer's 1995 Palmetto article, The Coontie and the Atala Hairstreak.

Slow growers, coonties are more expensive to buy than some other natives by relative size, but don't let that put you off. They are well worth the investment. They can be planted in full sun or fairly …